


Kindle

by Echo (Lyrecho)



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: AU, Directly Post-Crisis Core, Gen, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 11:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8160919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Echo
Summary: Cissnei doesn't make it in time to save Zack.That doesn't mean she doesn't make it at all. |Tumblr| |Twitter|





	

**Author's Note:**

> What is this? Two fics in one day?
> 
> This has been sitting in my documents for... I don't know, months. I am planning to continue it, however the continuation has literally one sentence down. I know what I want to write, I just don't know how to write it. The words won't come to me.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy.

Cissnei knows before the helicopter so much as touches down that she is too late to save Zack.

The thought hurts - burns, in fact, like a bullet to the leg, like the swab of mako all ShinRa employees are expected to suffer through (even though Cissnei was never part of the SOLDIER program; as a woman, could never be part of the SOLDIER program even if she wanted - when the air ShinRa HQ is filled with is all but _swimming_ with the stuff, it is best to know whether or not you'll have any adverse effects to it). A burn that stings the fine line somewhere between grief and failure, and she isn't sure which one hurts the most.

Briefly, she considers turning her chopper around, heading back for Midgar. But - no. Tseng had given her this mission, this task for a reason. After the events proceeding Zack's escape and their encounter, in which they'd left on her bike - the bike she had given to them, reported stolen only long after the fact, upon her return to Midgar - she had been under investigation.

Oh, it was more of a light scrutiny than anything, and the other Turks had worked with her long enough to be loyal to _her_ over Hojo - but images must be kept. Once Tseng had given her this chopper, it's tracking beacon connected directly to ShinRa HG so thoughtfully removed, she had known what it meant.

Whatever the outcome, she could not return, or they would have to fulfill their duties as Turks.

And so, sighing, Cissnei flicks a quick look at the fuel gauge - only about half a tank, enough to get her to one of the Turk safe houses close by, just outside of the marshes and deadlands surrounding Midgar with some to spare.

But first, there is something she must do. One last thing she can do for Zack, where she has failed him otherwise.

Hojo may have given permission for his failures to be put down - had long ago given up on them as anything but specimens to test to destruction - but he would demand the corpses back, for as long as he could hold them before the Lifestream finally did its job; which could take days, _weeks_ in Midgar, the infertile ground in the city and surrounding it seemingly void of the energy needed to break human bodies down like monsters.

As a SOLDIER, Zack's mako levels were far higher than the average citizen, granting him a stronger link to the Lifestream than most, particularly after four years spent in Hojo's tender care. Cissnei had not been made privy to the full details of what experimentation had been done to the survivors of Nibelheim, wayward SOLDIER and trooper included, but she knew enough - and that boy's mako poisoning didn't come from nowhere. Likely, the amount of mako Zack had had in his system was astronomical even for the standards of a SOLDIER First Class, but even so - to count on such nebulous data in the hopes that it would save Zack Hojo's cruelty at least in death was childish.

Cissnei didn't have many materia on her - her mana and magic had never been all that high, and you could only slot so many onto a bracer (her chosen weapons, shuriken, were ill-advised to equip materia to - one wrong move and that was either a materia lost forever, or a materia destroyed while you were in the near vicinity - neither outcome particularly desirable), but she did have the 'basics,' the bare minimum each and every Turk was expected to have equipped.

One mastered Fire, and a mastered Ice to balance it out. One Restore, one Sense. In the bag Tseng had discreetly snuck her before she had climbed into the chopper there was likely more of different kinds - he knew she didn't carry extra on her - but those four were the ones she had been using for years, since she'd finally finished her training period and entered officially into the Turks. They were keyed to her, comfortable to use in a way new materia wasn't.

So, passing over the cliffs and plains surrounding Midgar, peering down with roving gaze and a bittersweet smile as the rain stopped and the sun peeked out through the clouds, she searched for a place to land, and made her plan.

One Fire3 should take care of Zack, no problem. The problem would be if ShinRa's second convoy managed to get there before her - and it would be the _second_ convoy, because judging by the blood swimming through mud and the bodies soaked clean with rain that she walked through as she touched down and jumped out, Zack had managed to take down pretty much all of his attackers.

The bittersweet smile was back.

Cissnei stepped forward, using the uneven, rocky ground to her advantage; ducking behind larger outcroppings where they were available and making use of any and all cover she could as she made her way to the top of the cliff, where she had - from a distance, helpless to do anything; too far for volleys from the chopper's mounted guns to do any good - seen Zack make his last stand. She wasn't certain _how_ many of ShinRa's men had managed to survive the once SOLDIER's attacks, but it had to be at least one, probably more - otherwise, Zack would have found a way to survive. He was tenacious like that.

Being careful as she was, practicing every piece of stealth a lifetime spent in the Turks had granted her, Cissnei's climb up the incline was slow - slow enough that she began to worry that the second convoy _would_ show up before she was gone beyond their reach. But, eventually, the edge - the end - was in sight, and though she didn't give into relief just yet, a visible amount of tension eased from her shoulders and spine.

It was then that she got a shock that really shouldn't have been all that shocking.

Crouching next to Zack, holding the buster sword tightly to his chest like a child with a teddy bear, blood-streaked face turned up to the powder blue sky, was the trooper Zack had with him - Cloud Strife.

It was shocking because no-one could recover from mako poisoning as severe as his had been - along with whatever else Hojo's madness had subjected him to. More than simply comatose, his spirit should have been _gone_ ; the boy merely an empty shell for a mind splintered and fractured, burned through by mako. That knowledge had been part of why Cissnei had let Zack go - for as long as the SOLDIER clung to the belief that the younger boy would wake up, could be saved, he was beyond her help, or anyone's. She hadn't even thought on the lack of the blonde shadow's presence as she had observed Zack's final stand-off against the bulk of ShinRa's army (a heavy loss she was grateful for; with personnel so low it was highly unlikely she would be of a high priority to the company), taking it for granted that of _course_ the boy wasn't there - why would he be?

She gritted her teeth as she hovered indecisively behind this last piece of cover, years of Turk training and experience berating her for doubting even the most seemingly hopeless individual in the world - she should have known better. And now, the boy was clearly still dazed, his eyes - glowing brighter than almost any she had seen, a blue even more vivid than the rapidly clearing sky - still fogged over with faint green streams of mako, staring without focusing at Zack as he looked down from the sky; she couldn't risk making any sudden movements, had to show herself to him firmly as an _ally_.

After all, confused and still under mako's poisonous influence or not, someone with enhancements as strong as whatever Hojo had inflicted on Cloud Strife could cause a hell of a lot of damage - and if he came at her hard and fast enough with the sword he still held clutched to him...well. It was likely there wouldn't be much of Cissnei left intact, afterwards.

It was tempting to back down the cliff the way she had come, turn her attention from the still form of Cloud Strife, but Cissnei was no coward, however much she valued her own neck. And her self-imposed duty to Zack, the debt she would always owe him - would never so much as have a _chance_ of being fulfilled if she abandoned the one Zack gave his life to defend now.

"Cloud?" She stepped forward, making sure to very deliberately _not_ be stealthy, broadcasting her every movement as the blonde jerked, blade edge scraping against rock as he shuddered, unfocused gaze flicking to rest on her.

Cissnei paused, very briefly stilling, as a faint frown flickered across Cloud's face. "...Turk," he said finally, slowly, his voice quiet and rough from what she could only presume to be a lack of use. There was no animosity in his tone as he spoke, only a vague, confused sense of recognition, and she couldn't be sure of whether or not that was a good thing.

"My name is Cissnei," she said, taking another step forward cautiously when he made no move to stop her. His eyes flicked down to track her feet, as if drawn by the movement like a child would be. "Do you remember me at all?" She wasn't sure about the effects of mako poisoning - it was considered fatal for a reason, even those that 'recovered' rarely living as anything more than vegetables - but if the state of shutdown was anything like a coma, there was a chance Cloud had been aware of the world around him.

His expression was mostly blank as he stared at her, as if unused or unable to emote properly - but his eyes, vivid green on blue, were wide with a bewilderment that struck straight at Cissnei's heart. He would be twenty-one now, she knew - but he barely even looked the sixteen he'd been when he'd fallen into Hojo's clutches, not with that look on his face.

"Remember?" He tilted his head as he stared at her, and thankfully there was a questioning lilt - however faint - in his voice; he wasn't merely parroting her own words back at her.

"Mmm," she nodded. "Once Zack got you out, I helped you escape. On my bike."

"Bike..." he blinked, and turned his head to stare down at Zack, the tense hold he had on the blade relaxing enough to have the hilt rest perpendicular to the ground. "You're...Zack's friend." He spoke as if each word was an effort, a furrow between his brows creasing deeper as he continued - the sentence as a whole apparently his limit for the time being, but Cissnei was still stunned that he had somehow managed to remember or retain enough presence of mind to know that.

"Yes," she agreed. "I came here to help you and Zack."

Cloud just blinked at her. "Help?"

"Can you stand?" She asked, coming to the conclusion that he was not going to attack her, and stepping forward to hold out her hand in an offer of assistance, trying not to project the tension gradually (but surely) building up across her shoulders.

They'd been standing here, in one open position, for far too long. The President had such a small grasp on battle tactics that he likely wouldn't even think of sending in a sniper to take care of the 'rogue elements' - it would be a miracle if the thought so much as crossed his mind, let alone was given any sort of consideration - but he was by no means an unintelligent man. If someone from SOLDIER or one of the other militant departments spoke up in favour of stealth; acting under the confines of low war rather than trying to force the issue with brute strength - he would, most likely, listen. Anything to save him more losses after ShinRa's stunning defeat at Zack's hands today.

But Cloud was like a small, young, wounded animal. At the slightest sign of conflict he would undoubtedly become spooked - and without Zack to take the part of a vicious mama chocobo defending her young to keep him safe, he would have to lash out. A SOLDIER's fight or flight instincts were as enhanced as the rest of them, leaning heavily towards _fight_. As murky as the mako still in his system was making things for him, Cloud may not be able to tell the difference between friend or foe when it came down to it - after all, animals didn't give consideration to who was in their way when they wanted to be _left alone_

She couldn't let him pick up on her own fear.

He stared at her outstretched hand for what felt like a drawn out, painful eternity. There was a dark, lost look in his eyes as he finally - _finally_ \- reached out one trembling hand to take hers, gripping it tight enough that if she had been a woman with less control she would have squeaked.

"That's it," she smiled at him, tugging him to his feet. To her mild surprise, he was fairly short - taller than her, but not even by a full head, really. "We'll take care of Zack and then get out of here, okay?"


End file.
